Topic: Unwanted guest

[amanda21]

I opened my dalek type compost bin this afternoon and something moved!  I think it was a rat and on inspection I could see freshly dug earth around the front.  I shut the lid and was going to chicken out and leave but had second thoughts - I'm not going to be a wimp so I opened the lid again and banged around the sides of the bin with a stick until suddenly by my feet something shot out and across the neighbours plot.  I tell you it was like that scene in ET when all the undergrowth is moving but you can't see what is there - I could see it going through my neighbours bean patch!  Looking down where my feed HAD been I could see the hole - about 3 inches across.  I've blocked it up with a brick.  Will he be back do you think???   :-X   I don't put anything cooked in the bins - just veg peelings and stuff.

Will my compost be alright or will it be harbouring some horrid 'ratty disease'??

[Robert_Brenchley]

It'll be OK once it's rotted down properly. I'd put some poison in it myself.

[Mrs Ava]

It will be fine.  I suppose they are looking for somewhere cosy to bed down in over the winter.  As you have blocked the hole, they may move on, altho mine just gnawed a new hole!!  :-X  I don't like to poison, we are trappers, I worry that a foxy loxy or something will eat the poisoned rattus rattus and then get sick - aaahhhh, Emma's a soft touch!

[Rosyred]

Foxes I love in the countryside but not when the poo in my backgarden on the lawn every evening. Its not one poo but 3-4 I have to stop the children playing out there for the day.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'm very happy to have foxes about, but nothing will stop me murdering rats by all available means!

[amanda21]

Thanks for your replies - I'm not keen on murder myself and am hoping I have scared him off.  I intend to bang on the bin each time I go down there and see what happens - if he, she, or dare I say it - they persist then I will have no option - I just won't feel relaxed down there if I know they are there.......(I know they are around anyway but it's different when you really know!!)

If I have to put poison around the bins will this transfer into the compost and consequently into my veg??  :-\

[Marymary]

This stuff is supposed to kill rats whitout harming anything else,  I haven't used it myself but probably will when they return as they inevitably do!

http://www.ascott.biz/cat47_1.htm

[Paulines7]

If you put down rat poison, put it in a proper rat box so other animals/birds cannot get to it.  You do not need to put it in with the compost but in a suitable location nearby.  Good luck.   ;D

[triffid]

Hi Amanda,

sorry for the belated reply... make sure you keep your compost nice and damp: much less welcoming for rodents looking for a place to stay.

[Heldi]

I agree with triffid...give your compost a good soaking as ratty is looking for somewhere warm and dry.  I've used Eradirat when I had a pair of rats in the back garden. It seems to have worked.

[glow777]

Most rat poisons will only kill rats. Rats have the inability to vomit and therefore keep he poison down. Other animals just puke up (technical term) or are put off by the taste of rat poison. I had to do this research because of our dogs.

I would drop the poison down the hole the rat made and this will limit the chances of other animals finding the poison